Building block



may L 19511 H. STEINHAGE ETAL BUILDING BLOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 14, 1949 INVENTORS GERHARD STEINHAGE. HEINRICH STEINHAGE HUBEREYPJ. WETZELS WMW M y 1951 i H. STEINHIAGE ET AL. ,fifiw l BUILDING BLOCK Filed March 14, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS GERHARD STEINHAGE.HEINRICH STEIMHAGE l-IUBERT J. WETZELS M MO Patented May 1 1 951 UNITED STATES OFFICE BUILDING BLOCK Heinrich Steinhage and Gerhard Steinhage,

Ashausen,

Kreis Harburg,

Germany, and

Hubert Joseph Wetzels, Kerkrade, Netherlands,

assignors to Living Stone Establishment,

Vaduz, Liechtenstein, a company incorporated of Liechtenstein Application March 14, 1949, Serial No. 81,368 In France March 10, 1948 2 Claims.

building purposes which yields satisfactory pro- 1 tection from adverse atmospheric influences, such as rain, wind and heat.

Another object of the present invention consists in providing building elements of the above type, which when assembled to a wall or the like do not permit passage of rain or the like from one side of the Wall to the other along a continuous straight joint.

Other objects and the advantages of the invention will be apparent from the appended claims and drawings and the following specification which describes, by way of example, some embodiments of our invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a buildin element according to the invention; Figure 2 is a similar view of a somewhat modified embodiment and Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 illustrate the manner of assembling building elements shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively, with identical building elements and in combination with building elements of other design, respectively. Figure 7 illustrates a modification, in which the building element contains a heat-insulating layer or layers.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, in Figure 1, reference numerals I and 2 denote two parallel longitudinally extending, spaced exterior walls lying with their bottom and top surfaces, 3, 4- and 5, 8, respectively, in common planes. .An intermediate wall 1 is parallel to and offset vertically with respect to said exterior walls, I, 2. The distances between the top and bottom surfaces of walls I, 2 and l are equal and the plane of the bottom surface of intermediate wall 1 is common with the plane of the top surfaces 5, 6 of exterior walls I and 2. A notch or recess I3 is provided in the upper portion of wall i.

Longitudinal webs 8, 9 are inclined downwardly from intermediate wall i toward exterior walls i and 2. The top surfaces Ill and l l of each of said connecting webs 8 and 9, respectively, project upwardly from an intersection with the top surface of its adjacent exterior wall and said intersecting surfaces provide a corner abutment in vertical alignment with the inner corner of the bottom of the respective exterior wall.

The building element shown in Figure 2 is substantially identical with the building element shown in Figure l, but a vertical side shoulder' H2 is provided by each of the connecting webs,. in vertical alignment with the inner corner of the bottom of the respective exterior wall. In Figure 2, reference numerals It! and ifiZ denote parallel, longitudinally extending spaced exterior walls, lying with their bottom and top surfaces 163, [D4 and 565, E96, respectively, in common planes. l0! denotes the intermediate wall arranged in th same manner as in the embodiment of Figure 1. Reference symbols I88 and I09 denote the connecting webs having top surfaces Mil and HI.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate each the assembling of two identical building elements, according to Figures 1 and 2, respectively, and need no further description. As shown by these figures, the individual building elements fit together to form a wall of plane inner and outer surface.

As shown in Figures 5 and 6, the building elements according to our invention may be assembled also with building elements of other design. Figure 5 illustrates a wall comprising a T-shaped bottom element 22, several Y-shaped intermediate elements 23 according to our invention and a U-shaped top element 24. In this case too, the building elements automatically align with the adjacent elements and the resulting wall has a plan surface on both sides. The wall illustrated in Figure 6 consists of building elements 3| according to our invention, assembled with S- shaped building elements 32.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure '7, the intermediate wall of a building element according to our invention contains an inner layer 25 of low thermal conductivity, and the surface of one of the exterior walls of this element is also provided with such layer 25 of low thermal conductivity. Th layer of low thermal conductivity consists preferably of concrete foam or peat fibres mixed with a suitable binder.

The building elements according to our invention are adapted to be used in buildings above ground, as well as in structures below ground level and are particularly suitable for the construction of buildings which have to be moved from time to time. Such buildings can be used, in summer and winter, immediately after construction, as no drying of the walls and the like is necessary. Our building elements may also be used for toy building sets which can be made of pressed peat, molded plastics, clay, glass, wood, and the like.

The building elements of the invention can be made of any suitable material, such as clay, concrete, wood, glass, metal, plastics and others. Walls and the like assembled from concrete building elements of our invention, do not require coating or finishing.

It will be understood that our invention is not limited to the details specifically described above and illustrated in the drawings and may be carried out with various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A building element comprisin in combination, two parallel longitudinally extending spaced exterior Walls lying with their top and bottom surfaces in common planes, respectively, an intermediate wall parallel to and offset vertically 20 with respect to said exterior walis, the bottom surface of said intermediate wail being common with the plane of the top surfaces of said anterior walls, longitudinal connecting the lower portion of said intermediate wall to KIA portions of said exteri walls, said webs being inclined dot/11w mediate wall toward said exterior tances between top and better three of said walls being equal,

of each of said connecting wardly from an intersection of its adjacent exterior wall, said inte].

alignment with the inner corner vol bottom 35 of the respectiv -exterior wall.

2. A building element comprising in combination, 'two parallel longitudinally extending spaced exterior walls lyin with their top and bottom H surfaces in common planes, respectively, an intermediate wall parallel to and offset vertically with respect to said exterior walls, the bottom surface of said intermediate wall being common with the plane of the top surfaces of said exterior walls, longitudinal webs connecting the lower portion of said intermediate wall to the upper portions of said. exterior walls, said longitudinal webs being inclined downwardly from the intermediate wall toward said exterior Walls, the distances between top and bottom surfaces of all three of said walls being equal, each of said connecting webs projecting upwardly from and above its adjacent exterior wall and providing a vertical side shoulder in vertical alignment with the inner corner of the bottom of the respective exterior wall.

HEINRICH STEINHAGE. GERHARD STEINHAGE. HUBERT JOSEPH VJETZELS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 181,043 Clayton Aug. 15, 1876 794,510 Kline July 11, 1905 806,911 Phillips Dec. 12, 1905 826,388 Thomas July 17, 1906 865,654 Noacl; et al Sept. 10, 1907 393,924 Hofmann July 21, 1908 1,543,635 Vticlzson June 23, 1925 1,687,342 l /lacVeigh et al Oct. 9, 1928 1,758,757 Niemann May 13, 1930 2,340,263 Dodson Jan. 25, 1944 FOREEGN PATENTS Number Country Date 93,513 Switzerland 1922 169,516 Great Britain 1921 182,718 Canada 1918 

